SECAUCUS, N.J.: Panasonic has announced
a new generation of P2 cards that support the AVC-Intra Class 200 of the AVC-ultra
codec family. Immediately available, the F series of 64, 32 and 16 GB P2 cards
(models AJ-P2E064FG, AJ-P2E032FG and AJ-P2E016FG) carries suggested list prices
of $730, $499 and $399, respectively.

In addition to AVC-Intra Class 200, the new F Series supports all currently
available codecs from existing P2 cameras and recorders, including AVC-Intra
100/50, as well as DVCPRO-HD/50/25. Panasonic camcorders that will support
AVC-Intra Class 200, such as the previously announced AG-HPX600 P2 HD
shoulder-mount, are currently under development. Panasonic says AVC-Intra Class
200 will produce visually lossless compression, a feature targeting migration
of HD tape masters to a file-based format.